New Unused Credit Policy

[Guest]

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[cpbailey]

And if I die before I wake, will my heirs my kiva credit take?

Point is that unless your heirs know about your Kiva account, there is not a good method for them to be notified under the Kiva plan of late.  (Is it still under discussion?  Who knows?)  It won't be easy to look up on a national database if Kiva doesn't report it as abandoned property law requires.  Instead heirs will need to figure out your account name and password, and I am not so keen on having to develop a workaround because of a deviation from normal practice.  Do I give out passwords while I live?  Put them in my safe deposit box?  Put them in my will? 

colette

[Liliane]

I have not been following this thread. Can any one give me a 5 sentence summary of what the alternative proposals have been?
Thank you!

[TropicalPete]

I have heard differing views from other lenders on whether you should loan more than you can lose.

Are Kiva loans a charity or an investment? The outcome of this decision by Kiva will decide.

In my opinion Kiva is an investment. A place where you can put some money and expect it to be there when you want/need it. Not every investment is about making money; sometimes it's about not losing money.

If unused balances are quickly and carelessly appropriated by Kiva then the money you put into Kiva should be nothing more than you would be willing to donate to Kiva. Using myself as an example: under the current system where the money stays in your account perpetually I would be willing to gradually increase the amount I loan through Kiva to $5,000. But under a new system where large amounts of money are not escheated properly to the state then I would only loan $500 to Kiva for fear of losing the money; 10% of what I would otherwise loan.

Specifically, 1 year is too short!

My understanding is that international Kiva lenders can recover funds escheated to an American state. Does anyone know?

[Australia]

What became of this proposal?

[howy61]

What became of this proposal?

Does anyone have an update on the Escheatment clause in the Terms of Use?  I didn't find one when I looked.

Under this approach, my balance would likely have been claimed.  If that had happened, I would not have been able to reloan the funds once my personal situation allowed me to spend time on the Kiva site again and I would never have put additional money into the program (as I did).

When I understand the need to put funds back to use whether it is an account at KIVA or Charles Schwab, but generally California has a 3 year time period.  Even the most aggressive US states seldom allow less then 18 months. 

 

[AccountAbility]

In today's complex world there are all sorts of "brilliant" enthusiastic ideas that when placed in the hands of the attorneys get either shot down or snuffed out. 

Some of these really were good ideas.  Fortunately this one deserved the attorney shoot down.  For now, as far as I can tell, it is back to the drawing boards.

Dan

[wthepoo]

There are two (sort of) "leftovers" of the idea, as far as I am aware:

* When you are buying a Gift Certificate, you can expressly agree to the gift being regarded as a donation to Kiva after one year (this was an automatic "feature" at first, now you have to choose it).

* As far as I know, Kiva plans to introduce a new "Matching Feature" later this year. With it, lenders can choose (again, it's a mere option - among many others) to allow Kiva to access their inactive accounts after a certain time and use the funds for matching loans.

Apart from that, I, too, am under the impression that Kiva's plans have - for now - fortunately been shot down. This of course leaves the question whether Kiva is currently escheating the funds from inactive accounts according to Californian regulations.

Best wishes,
Wolfgang.

[cpbailey]

I had a small account that the state claimed after a one month warning in writing (to an old address).  I KNOW that the state must return it to me when I ask. 

Any bank, investment organization, and even paychecks must also follow state laws.  If an organization is supposed to do so and doesn't, there is a daily penalty.  I suspect Kiva will have a headache of a problem to find and notify everyone who becomes inactive.  I also am guessing that we will start seeing friendlier ways to recover our funds encouraged.  This will prevent Kiva from having to find individuals who haven't invested their moneys again.

Colette

[AccountAbility]

Kiva is exploring some the legal ways for lenders to "opt in" at the outset to various ways of keeping idle funds working.  But none will cover existing idle credits, as best as I can determine.

Maybe someone from California can verify this, but in many states (including our own Washington) the unclaimed funds in escheat are searchable at an online website.  In Washington, the searcher can begin the claim right on the website. 

We should find out if such a website and search function is available in California.

Dan

[RichardF]

California State Controller's Office: UNCLAIMED PROPERTY SEARCH

This search page will allow you to locate Unclaimed Property that already has been sent to the State for safekeeping, as well as property that is about to be sent to the State by a business as required by law. State law requires businesses to send to the State any property that has remained in their possession without any activity on the part of the owner, generally for three years or more. The information contained on this website is updated weekly.